The Creature That Circled Us for Hours | Tennessee | Archives

0:00 Welcome to big Foot Society. In this episode, I talked to Mark about his Bigfoot encounters in northwest Georgia in the adjacent area of Tennessee. If you've also experienced something in these same areas as Mark did regarding Bigfoot, please reach out to me immediately after this episode. And if you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, please contact me at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com. All Right, big Fort Society got the privilege of talking to Mark Eller Senior. He's from Chickamauga, Georgia. He's a gentleman. I talked to off and on for quite a while, but it's been a while in common for us to be able to sit down and chat as it were over the phone. And Mark, it's great to talk to you again.

0:42 Yeah, glad to be here. I'll tell a little bit about myself. I'm fifty six years old as of yesterday, born and raised in Chattanugga, Tennessee, on the outskirts of town. We lived near a wooded area area called Missionary Rage. A big stretch of would us facing us was a lookout mountain to the to the east, to the to the west, and then Simple Mountain, Raccoon Mountain, and then just five or six other mountains. All Chattanooga is kind of like a bowl. So we spent a lot of time in the woods, and we hunted and fished. There was myself and three brothers and a sister, mom and dad and a grandmother who lived with us, and we hunted fish to supplement our neils. And so anyway, spend a lot of time in the woods. And so I wanted to tell you about my education. Dropped the high school at the end of twelfth grade. They wanted me to come back for three more months. I didn't want to, so dropped out. Two years later, went to college, got in the social degree, and about fourteen years later I went to college and got a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Bellehaven University, Mississippi. Was not school programs, and I work for the Department of Transportation, Tennessee Department Transervation.

2:06 I was a right away agent because I had had real estate experience. I had been a realtor real estate broker for fourteen or fifteen years, and it was kind of handing a lot of education with the right of way that's imminent domain and so just say I'm a little bit educated, always reading, I'm always trying to learn something else. And actually am currently enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh trying to get an engineering degree in the field that I worked in now on a fiber optic technician. I've been doing that about fifteen years. I do averages for all kinds of companies all over Metro Atlanta, and so anyway like to learn, like to read, let them know what's going on. So I'll start out with my first kind of encounter I had. It was nineteen eighty two.

3:03 I was fourteen years old. My dad had just bought a boat from my uncle, and we'd never had a boat before. We'd always bank fished, and we were excited. It was just he and I and we were going to an area called Raccoon Mountain Pump Station. That's a hydro electric power station that TVA Tennessee Valley Authority operates. They actually suck water out of the Tennessee River up this big, giant pop with a slow pump, and it fills up this big lake at the top mountain, and then when extra power is needed, they drain that lake very fast and it goes right back into the river and it turns turbines and generates electricities. Well, there's a boat ramp there. We launched our boat and we go up river. We'd be going towards Dunlap, Tennessee. So Raccoon Mountain Pump Station is would be west of Chattanooga off US Highway forty one. And so we're we're out fishing.

4:08 We're heading to a certain location my dad I wanted to go to and uh kind of way up river and we were just blow blowing Springs Branch. Only reason I know that is I just did. I was looking to uh to see it kind of exactly where we were, and it blowed. Blowing Springs Branch is a bunch of huge cliffs. On the left side of the river. There are sandstone cliffs, and there's all kinds of caves that you can see. If you're on on the opposite side of the river, you can see these caves, just the openings and small ledges, and all of that property is owned by a trust company, a bunch of a bunch of attorneys. And I don't remember what year they did this.

4:51 It had to been, you know, prior to nineteen eighty two. That they bought a whole bunch of land that butts up against some wh All Life Management property. They bought it, put it into trust so no one could ever buy it and develop it. And you can't hunt on it. You can't. If you get caught on its, you go to jail. So I've never been to the property. I know where it's at. But anyway, we get to this area and we throw out this anchor and we're fishing and it's real quiet, beautiful day, beautiful skies, no wind. You know, a few birds you could just to see it. A couple of hawks and flying around. And we noticed that every time we caught a fish, we would hear this this uh kind of a whooping noise and uh.

5:42 And I asked my dad one, dad, what is that? And every time we caught a fish and uh, he said, I don't know, this is like an owl. I said, well, I've never heard a owl sound like that. Then we noticed if we if we caught a fish that wasn't limit size and we threw it back, we would here from different directions, but it's always coming from that cliff. We would hear a like a uh uh. It sounded like somebody that was exasperated, you know that that we threw the fish back. And this went on for several hours, I mean, and every time we caught a fish, we heard the book and we talked about it, and we never could see anything. Dad went to the other side of the river, the forest side where we could look up on those cliffs, and it was just too high and the and the openings were too dark, and we would looking for owls. Okay. So went home told my mother about it, and she thought it was funny. And I never thought of it again, uh until I saw a spot on a one of Dave Claudis's movies four and one, uh missing the Hunted where he was talking with Ron Moorhead and they played the Sierra signs and it, man, it hit me like a brick that I recognized those sounds.

6:59 And then it was about the time, right around Christmas. I went to saw my mother and I asked her did she remember, and she said, oh, yeah, your dad and I talked about it a lot, and she said he told me, which my dad never shared this with me. It sounded like a monkeys and the same The year I was born in May of sixty eight, Chattlenooga had a had a very small little zoo, it's called Zooville, and they had they had acquired a new born chimpanzee and his name was Hank. And we were actually born on the same day of the same year. And I always kind of, you know, like to go see him because of our little connection, and he's funny and very entertaining.

7:46 And he actually passed away three years ago, I believe. Anyway, my mother said that Dad said it sounded like Hank at the zoo, hooping and hollered. So it really validated my memories, because memories are not always correct, and and you think you know this, and you think you know that, especially the memories of the child. So that that was my first, my first encounter of I don't know what, but man, it sure didn't sound like what what Ron Morehead and those guys recorded up in the Sierra Mountains. Were there any parts of that that also sounded like how when you listen to Ron Mooreheads tapes it almost sounds like a language or was it just you know, you could pick out parts of it like, okay, kind of sounds like that there.

8:34 Never never heard, never heard the language part it was. I knew at the time that we were being observed, and we were thinking we were being at least I was it was an out because that's what my father said. And you know, we knew about big foot and all that stuff from seeing the seeing the the what was it? The in search of that came out in the seventies and and my dad talked about it. My dad said, you know, there's a lot of woods around here, and there's you know, who knows what's what's out there and what's not out there. And we never really talked about a bigfoot other than when it would come on television or something like that. But no, we never heard the language. It was just and it almost sounded like juveniles. It was not it was not a guttural whoop or it wasn't a and when they when they made their exasperation, it didn't sound like it came from something very large.

9:30 But of course it was echoing through a through a a small you know, canyon in the water. Probably play tricks on the sound as well. But the found carried because of the water and where it was very wide right. There, how high up were those caves up on the side of the wall. Oh my gosh, I've been wanting to go back. My cousin's got a boat and he fishes that area. I would say sixty or seventy feet and made you the highest spots. But the way, the way the holes are. I was looking at it today on on Google Earth, the three D kind of like like the street view, but you know, you're not on the street, and you could you could see that you could see the holes in the caves. Like I said, if you if you went on if you go on Google Earth and go to the t V A Raccoon Mountain pump station and start there and go, you'd be going I think we would be northeast direction. Uh. So you start there and go to the right, go to the river to the right, and it snakes around the old bunch and then you look for enlarger screen and you look for the blowing blowing springs branch and then then look down your three D you'll see the you'll see those cliffs. And it brought like a lot of memories to see and that today it was amazing that that I could actually find it.

10:58 And because I spent quite at the time while I was at work a lot of time while I'm working, I'm sitting waiting on technicians to contact me while I'm usually testing in a data center and they're out in the field, so I have a lot of times. So I was looking like, God, can't believe that I can see these cliffs like this, very high, sixty seventies maybe maybe eighty feet at the at the tallest point, it's all stands something. And also kind of similar question, how close were the caves from the top of the cliffs. So if something was to come from the top, how far down would they have to get to get to those cliffs?

11:43 These openings are sporadic. You'll have maybe maybe twenty five or thirty feet up, you'll have a ledge, and then beyond that ledge maybe two or three four feet of a ledge, and then there's a big opening, and then maybe one or two close to each other, and then ten or fifteen twenty feet above there'll be two or three more over the little edge, and then some of them don't have a ledge. There's just holes. And I always wondered how those holes were made. And I had I had never I had never fished there before with my dad, but I had been on a boat trip with my uncle in that same boat that my dad botform and he would always go beyond that. But we would always look at those caves and he'd pour them out, you know, and even when I was nine ten years old, he'd pour them out, you know. Wondered who made them caves or what or what made those caves. But all that always kind of made me wonder why that property was bought up and put into a trust, and that kind of that kind of made me think, well, maybe somebody was trying to hide something.

12:44 Yeah, it's very it's very interesting, and I mean, wilder things have happened. I mean it's I don't think it's out of the question to say something like that that could have happened. Have you ever done any research to see if anyone else has had any experiences like that in that area or any weird things happen. Well, I'll tell you this. If you go on the Bigfoot Map, there's a guy I can think of his name. I can tell you that I'm the map. Give me just one second. There's a guy that's created the map and it is Bigfoot startings all over the country, and it's called Bigfoot Map Projects. And there are hundreds and I'm looking at it right now and all through Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama.

13:35 I mean, it's a sea of red and red indicating sightings and uh, it's just it's amazing a number of people that have had sightings. Like I mentioned to you earlier. Today the chattam Nugga Times was an article about a group of Bigfoot walkers that are local that were having a conference. I didn't get the chance to read the article, but I will when I get back home. I'm still in Atlanta right now. But anyway, I thought it was kind of ironic. We're doing our interview tonight and this was in the Chattanooga paper today. So there was a starting a couple of months ago, and I think it was mister Moneymaker that had it on his podcast with husband Wasts that had a siding. They almost hit one on US eleven in Trenton, Georgia, which is, you know, fifteen fifteen, eighteen miles from where I live in jack Mauga, so, which is probably twenty five miles from Chattanooger area. Yeah.

14:35 Bigfootmap dot com is the website if listeners are wanting to check that out, if you haven't already, it's awesome. Like you look at the area that Mark is talking about in a little south of it, down in the Crocker Crockford Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area, it is just lit up like the fourth of July. There's all sorts of stuff there. My grandson and son in law and I camped there four weeks ago. It was it was the last week of March. And I'm gonna tell you, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know that that that that Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management was twenty eight twenty six thousand acres.

15:17 I had no idea. I've been, I've been to different cars. I didn't know they had camping. And when I found out, we went and we had a absolutely wonderful time and we heard all kinds of noises and we were we were listening, stayed up very late, and this is a primitive camping area. There was one other group, two older guys, that were about a thousand yards from us, so we were the only people there. We heard some some some pretty loud movement and I have not vision and and infra red but we never could spot anything. But yes, a Pigeon Mountain is well as the crow flies. It's about twelvemore I live, but it's a it's about a forty five minute drive to get to it because you have to go up, up and down a mountain and a half really to get to it.

16:10 It's interesting. It's even lit up more than the if you go further east the Blue Ridge, Georgia area cherry Log over where the Bigfoot Museum is, and everyone talks about how that area, of course is very, very full of Bigfoot encounters. But I mean, it is not lit up on this map even close to uh to the area that we're referring to. So, well, I'm gonna tell you's play Tennessee. You've got four or five major cities. So you've got Memphis, you've got Nashville, you've got Cookville, you've got Chattanooga, and you've got an Ox. So was that five major cities? Between those cities is several hundred miles of woodland and could I couldn't tell you how many how many state parks and national parks and wildlife management areas there are. There's areas you can get on the interstate and drive and if you don't have gash, you better you better get gas quick because there's a lot of nothingness between between these places, and it's it's a lot like being in Seattle. Uh, It's it's a lot like being in Montana. Now, those areas, the big towns, are a lot further away, but the nothingness of wilderness between those big towns is the same.

17:26 I mean, there's nothing, just just woods, and uh, very easy, very easy for for a cryptid to hide. And I don't even like to use the word cryptied because if you just look at anecdotal evidence, with all of the credible sightings just within the last one hundred years, all the from I consider myself a credible person. I didn't see anything on this particular instance, but I heard something. I'm educated our person. I know I know that that's so something happened. And I know I have listened to about fifteen different varieties of owls how they found, and none of them sounded like what we heard, and so I know it wasn't the owl. And uh, I don't think it was a chimpanzee. But anyway, then you take the footprints, and then you take the hair samples. You know, the DNA project that Dave Plis and Scott Carpenter did, I mean they proved. I mean, they they got proof.

18:31 And if you hadn't read that or seen that documentary, you need to see it because they they spent a lot of time and a lot of money, uh with with this DNA project. So to me, it's not it's not a cryptis it's there people will, I mean at one point somebody will. I mean they had they had hair, hair follicles with mitochondrial DNA. They had blood, slava and flesh that they were uh that that were determined once they once they tested it with the human genome, it came back as in the human the humans, the human whatever you want to call it. I can't think of what you call it, but anyway, it was human. But the hair follicles are not human. Hair follicles are are are are slick on the outside edge of bigfoot hair follicles are ribbed, they're jagged there. They look like they're scale.

19:30 They look scally And there's no other animal other than the sashquatch that has the same hair fogicles. And they have those hair fodicals all over the countries, but they don't they're testing them with with known animals. They comes back unknown primates. I don't think it's a primate. I just don't think it's a primate. I think it's something else. Hmm. It's it's very interesting, and you know, we'll we'll see what comes in the future. I know there's also another DNA study going on right now with Darby or cut out of I think North Carolina State, perhaps a college up in that area. And so you know, hopefully we get some solid answers, you know, within our lifetime at least, but well, I.

20:14 Think we will. The disclosure is coming in a lot of different ways, in a lot of different areas. I have another story or too, if you'd love to hear. I I hate to say story because that sounds like but I have a couple other incidents that happened, and I'll be glad to tell you about it. Yes, the next one happened. And this kind of this is chronological. And I looked up to dates on calendars because I wanted to be precise, and so I got married on September twenty seventh of nineteen eighty six, and I picked the day because that was the opening of squirrel seasons and small game season, and I knew I'd never forget my anniversary. So anyway, so Monday, October the twentieth, note we hadn't been married just a couple of weeks. My young wife wanted to go camping, and her parents were absolutely upset about it. And we had our own home, and I had the eye, had a job, and we were living away from her our parents and my parents, and so her dad had a pickup truck and a one of those campers that slid in the back of the pickup truck and had like the sleep route went over the top of the truck. So they insisted instead of taking my vehicle, I took his truck and used their campers. That way, if it rained, we wouldn't get rained on and neither one of us would melt or die whatever. But this was a very very mild October for where we lived. So anyway, we we I went

21:46 ahead and you know, did what they asked. So I took his truck this campus, and so we went to Harrison Bay, which is a state park which is backwaters of the Chickamauga Day which is another TVA project. It's a hydro electric dam, and they when they built it down, they backflooded all this property. And this is a slew that I spent many weekend nights with friends quote unquote camping, which meant sitting around a campfire drinking a whole heck of a lot of beers, and nobody had a tent. And so anyway to this area, I knew there would be no one there. It was a Monday night in October, and she and I went, and where we went was a road named Maddox Cemetery Road because it's a dead end of that road was Maddox Cemetery, very very old cemetery and if somebody wants to look it up, it's off of a North Highway fifty eight in Chattanooga, and they have biden. The road used to be a two lane road. Now I think it's it's four lane with a turning lane. And I don't know if Maddox Cemetery Road still has a sign. However, you can find Maddox Cemetery on Google Maps or Google Earth, because I looked at up myself and uh, just the other day. And so anyway, so we go to end the matic Cemetery Road.

23:15 There's a little road that me and my friends cut in there that lead right up to the water. Years ago, we cut it in there. I pulled the truck in there, turned around and get I don't know why I didn't turn it to where the front of the truck was aiming to the to the towards the road the exit, but I aimed it a different way. I don't know why I did that, but anyway, so my wife was adamant about sleeping in a tent. So I set the tent up and there was already a firing that probably me and my friends built years earlier. And I built a fire, and we have dinner and work, chip chat and have a nice time, and then it's bedtime and the fire going down. We were getting going the tent and the the truck and camper is about thirty feet from the entrance of our tent. So we're just laying there talking and I've got the zipper unzipped to the tent so we could actually see the stars, you know, but it was probably in a little bout of three foot by three foot area. I guess I took the rain the rain thing off, what did you call that?

24:29 So we could see the stars because there was no no precipitation expected. All of a sudden, we started hearing footsteps, and it's distinct footsteps. And I'm a hunter. I'm hunting my whole lot squirrel, rabbit, deer, you know, I'm a hunt. So I raise up and I actually turned my body around to where I can hear where the noise is coming. So it's coming from the left side, out of the road, but it's in the woods. And I hear step step, step step, and the steps where they were sounded, they sounded either something was moving real slow or it had a pretty good strike. And I thought, well, dank, somebody's coming through here. And so I had I had a thirty five Marling magazine full. I had my had, uh three fifty seven with an eight inch barrel, and that's all we had with us. And so I get up on my knees and I wore my face is up to the netting, and I shout out that direction. Uh, hey, we're camping back here, and I'd appreciate it if you'd find somewhere else to fish. There's a whole lot of shore line, so please find some other place to fish. Well, it stopped for a second, and then it moved again, this time a little slower, and then it actually moved

26:04 the sort of west of us. I could hear it going off in the distance to the west where our hint was, but it was still in a westernly direction, coming towards us. But it moved away. Then all of a sudden, we hear a splash in the water. Now this is uh you know uh. Where we're at, which I know you is filled with what we call red Georgia clay, because the Georgia clay runs all the way into Chattega. Uh. Red clay doesn't know any state bounds. But anyway, packed hard red Georgia clays. Where where we're at in the the ledge from the edge of the where the land meets the water probably isn't but about two feet and there's no waves or anything unless a boat comes through makes way. Anyway, we hear a splash and then we hear Now the water is probably two foot deep, maybe maybe deep, but then we hear splash, splash, splash.

27:05 You could hear something taking steps. I was six foot five at the time. If I was danging in two foot of water, you wouldn't hear my footsteps because I would my feet that would not come out of that water. It would be moving in the water and I thought that was extremely strange, and my wife got scared, and it was coming our direction in the water, and now we can't see anything. Now there's a full moon, but I can't see. We're not close enought to the water to where I can see what's going on. Well, then it quietens down for a few minutes. Then all of a sudden, we hear something coming out of the water on the opposite side of us, on the east side of our tent, probably thirty feet forty feet away from us.

27:49 Now we're only like ten feet away from the wood edge. It's walking through the wood. Now, Houller out again. Hey, i'd appreciate it if you'd find another fish. We're camping here. And uh, then it stops and then it crossed. I hear it not just started coming towards us, but it basically I felt like it was coming out of the woods, crossing the road, going back to the other side of the road where it was. And then it started coming back towards and I haulered out again. I said, I've got a gun and I'm not afraid to use it. So I told my wife, I said, I handed her the rifle and I said, it's got a bullet in the chamber, and she knew how to shoot, and all you had to do was pull the hammer back and pull the trigger on that rifle. I said, don't shoot me.

28:38 ZiT the tent and I said, I'm going to run out. And I said, I noticed there was an old tire land over next to where I parked. I'm going to run out there and I'm gonna and I carried the pistowood, I'm gonna grab that tire and I'm going to throw it on the fire. Now the fire was just embers and no flame. And I said, then as soon as I thought on fire, I'm going to run jump right back into the tent. Don't shoot me when I come back in, unless it's not me so anyway, and I said, it won't take but a minute or two if that fire to blaze up. And I said, when it does, we're going to run and get in that camper. And a normal person would say, why wouldn't you run and getting the truck and started up and leave. Well, her dad's ignition switch was messed up and it had he he had it kind of rigged where he had a little alan wrench that he put in there and you pushed that Allen wrench forward and it would start the truck. Well, when we got there, it got parked. Getting in down the truck, the Allen wrench fell and it fell on the ground. And I told her, said, remind me the Allen ranches over there on the ground and that way tomorrow, or that we were going to leave on Sunday, I think, or on Wednesday or Thursday. Remind me to get this Allen wrench so we don't lose it. We won't be able to get out of here if I don't have it.

29:55 So that's why, because I didn't want to take the time to try to find this allanrench to get the truck started, and then I had to back up. Now I was just so I ran and grabbed the tire, threw it on fire, jumped in the tent, and uh And it took just a minute or two for the for the tire to blaze, and it did and it turned. I don't know if you've ever seen a tire that on fire, but it turned the daylight and just a quick minute and I grabbed her and she took the blankets and the pillows, and I had both guns and we ran to the back of the truck. Now this camper was a little bit shorter than his eight foot dead of his truck, so I had to lower the tailgate and then opened the door helped her in. I got in, closed the door, raised the little window of the door, reached out and closed the tailgate. And that way, if something had to come in, he would have to open the tailgate and then open the door, and I was going to be opening the fire. So I got her up in the in the sleeper area that went over the cab of the truck, and I laid in the floor facing that door, and we heard whatever this thing was walk around our truck for several hours, and I yelled out several times. I didn't want to shoot.

31:13 I did want to fire my my my weapon off. And I don't know why I didn't. I could have fired my weapon off at any time in the air and mine a scared whoever whatever it was off, And but I just have I've just been talked about gun safety. You shoot, you shoot a bullet, it goes somewhere and then it comes down somewhere. And if you don't know where that bulle's go and you probably ought not to shoot it, and I just didn't. And I guess that was my muscle memory training of growing up around weapons, and so I never did shoot. But finally, finally it went away and stopped circling our camp. And uh, I mean it was it was warm enough that I had the visath camper, had crank out window in the windows hatch greens on it. I had the windows opened a little bit all the way around just to get some airplanes out there, because we did there was no power to this camper. It was just slid into there because we had no intentions of using it. And so we're sitting there and and it was kind of it was kind of muggy because it was a very mild October.

32:20 It was probably in the upper sixties even at night, and so I could hear and I could hear it walking in circles and never did see it. Never did see it. Well. When daylight came, we were ready to go, and I very cautiously stepped out and walked all around and I could find no prints, and I didn't really expect to find any prints. I could see my prints where I ran from the tent and I was brin Tennis's where I ran from the tent and grabbed the tire. And because I was running and stopped quickly, and I could see them, I couldn't see the tracks of my shoes. Would like to see my prints. But what we did see is I walked over to the west side of our camp area and you could see the water was clear and still you could see holes in the mud beneath the water. It was perfect clear, you could see the bottom there were they were and I'm not saying you can say footprints, but you can see where some something walked in their stride and and you know, looking through water, the distance could be skewed or whatever. But these these strides were pretty pretty far apart. But like I said, whatever it was was walking, when it would take a step, its feet would come its other foot would come completely out of the water and splash back into the water. You could see those holes in the in the dirt below the water on the shoreline for about thirty feet from where it went to where it came out. So you just have to just imagine. I

33:53 had no idea, you know what what what that was? Uh, I don't think it was a I don't think it was a person because because any normal person. Somebody tells you, hey, I've got a gun and I'm ready to defend myself and would you please leave because we're camping here. Any normal person would would leave. And they that whoever whatever that was, did not. That's a wild account, man. That's probably one of the more intense ones I've I've taken. Did you find the Alan ranch on the ground? I did? I did. It was right on the ground next to the trucks. And I'll tell you this was my first wife. Her name was and I spoke to her and she said, was okay, we're we're good friends.

34:39 We had four kids together, and her name was Connie, and she said she'd be more than happy to attest to the account of what happened. And we talked about it, and she said, I went through my account and she said, uh, that's exactly what happened. She said, I remember it. She said, I have had night marriages about that, and I she said, I've told people about that one hundred times. And sometimes we'll get together. We'll have family to get together, and of course we share children and grandchildren, and we will be at the same birthday parties together. And I'm remarried being married twenty four years to my second wife. And so we're all we're all adults. We get along just fine. And she'll have somebody there, maybe the guy she's married to. Now.

35:24 She said, hey, tell him, tell him what happened on our temperatrip. And I tell him and he goes, well, that's exactly what she said, you know. So yeah, she's she's my validation. It happened. It happened. And I put my hand on the stack of Bibles that happened. Wow, And what what year was this again? Mark? It was nineteen eighty six, nineteen eighty. Six, So I'm guessing October, right, And I'm guessing in that area there probably wasn't a lot of were there a lot of houses? Like I'm looking at the map and. Oh no, that's that's State Park. There are some houses on that are on the Harrison Bay. Uh, it's in another area. Most of that when the TVA built that, they bought they bought all that land up in the nineteen thirties. And actually my great grandfather was a state He helped to lead that whole program. They paid a dollar and acre for people's farm land, and uh, then a lot of prospectors came in and bought bought the bought the rest of it because they knew that people would want to live on the river at searchin spots.

36:28 But they made a state park around there, and there is a marina, Uh that's there, and then this would be this would be north of the arena. If you if you were able to look up Maddox Maddox Chapel Cemetery, I pulled it right up and Uh, just the other day I was telling a friend, Uh, one of one of the guys I worked with. Ironically, he's not from here, but his wife is from the area I grew up, and she went to the high school right down the roads there, and she said that she didn't from remember that road. But they they actually found the Madix Chapel Cemetery and sent me a screenshot of it that I looked up and found it myself. But the Maddix Chapel Road, the entrance to it got changed when they get to imagine widening a two lane road to a four lane with a with a you know, a turning lane in the middle of it. They took took a whole lot there, and there was a lot of property to take because you're right there on the on the bay anyway. Mm hmm.

37:29 It's it's a really interesting account, just especially if you look at a map, and I would recommend listeners look at a map. It's just it's so interesting this how this whole area is laid out. These things happened, like I said, I did. I never said it was a big foot, but I don't think it was a person, or any sane person, or it could have been an insane person that was had a very very very long stride. Either way, it's it's like you're in a You're in a bad situation, no matter what it is, it's not a fun situation. When you were listening to something walking around, then did you hear any other sounds that were happening at the same time, No.

38:16 We got it was quiet. And see the thing about it is the only reason I heard I should have mentioned this, the only reason. I guess I would have heard the footsteps, uh sooner. I mean, I mean I would have heard the footsteps, probably later on than what I did. But we were laying there and you know, it's still warm out and there's like a million frogs, and I don't remember hearing any crickets. But we did hear an hour or two and and a few night birds. But the frogs were almost almost deafening, uh where they were chirping because it was still so warm, and uh, all of a sudden it got quiet. And my wife said, did She said, did the did the did the frog go to bed? I guess, I guess they did. They all went to better at the same time, and then with within within a minute or two, I hear the footsteps.

39:10 But she said, is that a deer? I said, no, that's a dear. Don't make that deer does not make those kind of steps those that's a person, somebody on two feet walking. I can tell you that for sure. I've heard I have tracked. You know, I could have killed. I could have killed a thousand button bucks that were legal to kill, but I wouldn't. I always wait for a big, a big buck, and you know, just just for the sport of it. And I know what deer sounds like when they walks to the woods. I know what a COLDI sounds like when I watch through the woods. I know what a bear sounds like when I watched to the woods. This thing was not any of those things. And oh, yes, I wish I had mentioned that, but yes, it was definitely quiet. Uh. I mean there was not even any boats in the water, because this has been a friday out there would have been boats out on the water. You could heard music people playing the radios in the boats. For a half mile or more, you could have heard it. There was nothing at all. You couldn't We were so far back you couldn't hear traffic, and we were only about maybe a mile from Highway fifty eight. But there's so much woods right there where we were in this little slut that the woods. We couldn't hear cars, we couldn't see the lots of cars.

40:24 So yeah, it was quiet, really interesting. It feels like I'm going to guess someone listening out there has had some I just feels like there's probably something else that has happened in this particular Harrison Bay State Park over the years since nineteen eighty six. So contact me. Listeners are put in the comments if you've experienced something weird there, but mark really interesting stuff so far, But what else have you experienced as well? Well? I've got another bigfoot related to not bigfoot related, just big foot. I had a horrible foot injury. In like twenty forty fourteen, I lost my achilles attendant and had had thirteen operations, and it was to the point to where I could no longer do my job as a Department of Transputation. And I'd had a CDL licenses nineteen nineteen, nineteen eighty nine, Yeah, nineteen eighty nine, So I had an opportunity after rehabilitation, I had an opportunity to go to work in the oil fields driving a truck and made quite a bit of money. That was twenty fourteen, and then the oil prices dropped and the money was no longer there for being so far away from home, and myself and my brother in law were up in Ostakota working, so we decided to come home and we got a job team driving. We were driving for Transport America, and so somewhere around June or July,

42:00 my brother in law had to go home because my sister was getting ready to have a baby, so I was driving by myself. So I looked this up, because I actually made notes of this when it happened, and I told my what told bove people about it. So I went back to my notes and looked to refresh myself to make sure. It happened on Tuesday, August the eighteens of twenty fifteen. So I was driving the semi like I said for Transport America. I dropped my loaded trailer at a storage lot in West Memphis, Tennessee, and I dead headed from Memphis to Little Rock. And those who don't know what deadhead means, that when you drive your tractor without a trailer, and normally it means you don't get paid or you get paid a lot less.

42:47 So anyway, I had got a Little Rock picked up my loaded trailers, but I only had about two hours left of my drivetime for the night, and I was trying to get the heck out of there I could make it back to Memphis. So I see I was traveling east on I forty between Brinkley, Arkansas and Forest City. And I looked that up after the fact because I didn't know where the heck I was because it was two o'clock in the morning when this happened, and there was no cars on the interstate at all at this time, and which was kind of unusual. But there was another tracking trailer right next to me, big old guy driving a Peterbilt, and we were. And nowadays hardly any truck drivers used CEB radios anymore. But I'm a CBE guy and he happened to be too, and he was. He pulled up next to me, we're driving side by side, and picked up his his CD mike and showed it to me, and then I picked up mine and showed it to him. And then he gave me the finger numbers with his fingers what channel to go to. And we were chit chatting back fourth from the CB radio. So, uh, we were traveling, man, and uh this ship that and back and forth. And we were in this section in this area between Brinkley and uh Forest City. Uh, it's

44:17 absolutely nothing. I mean, man, it is nothing, nothing, nothing but woods, little exits exit or two here and there didn't have you know, restaurant sign here, gas station sign or or a hotel sign. It said no services. So there was nothing. You could see, no lights of any cities. There was no ambient light at all other than the crystal clear black sky and a full moon. And we could see it's like almost like daylight on the road. And then all of a sudden and I could probably really and truly this section we were at. I could probably see them all mall and a half. It had made just about because the moon was directly a bot And so to give you the layout, the interstate was two lanes on the two lanes going east, then then a median with about a four and a half foot concrete divider, and then two lanes going west. Then there was probably forty or fifty feet of right of way grass right of way that led up to a fence that was at least six feet off and on both sides, and which is normal for for a road like that, so off in the distance, and I can't I really can't tell you how far off in the distance it was because I could see so far. But from the

45:50 time I saw what I saw, it had crossed the road in the other side before we passed it, So anyway, I didn't see this thing come over the fence. Whatever it was had to come over that fence within just a few strides of that thirty or so feet of grass, and then acrossed two lanes of the highway, and then uh, there were this area. There were mile markers on both sides of the highway, and they had mile markers in h I think tents, and they were on either wooden posts or I can't remember, but it was. He said.

46:32 He was say, like my marker, just for instance, I don't know what my marker was, We'll say my marker two point four and uh. And it was on I think it was on like a four or four post right next to the concrete of four and a half foot concrete divider. And this thing put its hand on that sign post and threw itself over that four and a half foot concrete divider and ran across the highway. And then I did see it leap over the fence on the other side, and and me and this guy were side by side, and I looked over him his eyes balls was big around the saucerers and mine was too, and I just hit the shoulders and I at the shoulder started slowing down, and he pulled over in front of me and got out and said, did you see that damn thing? And I said, yes, I did. And I'm going to tell you what, Jeremiah. It was either a really really really tall guy in a gilly suit that was very athletic, that could scale that that six foot fence, and that could throw himself over that that median, and I'm telling you he ran thirty feet from the from the fence on my side two lanes, jumped over that median and then ran two lanes and thirty feet or so and leapt over that fence on the other side.

47:53 Very very very agile, athletic, you know, seven and a half eight foot tall guy and a gilly suit or it was a sashquash, and that's all there is to it. And me and that guy exchanged numbers, and we talked several times over the years, and I tried to call him. I actually I tried to taste him back last year when you and I spoke, and apparently his numbers has changed or he could possibly be deceased because he was possibly ten keen or twelve at least at least ten years older than I was, because he told me he'd been driving for thirty five years. But anyway, that was that was a absolutely jaw dropping Okay, this is definitely something there's something going on here in my brain happening.

48:46 I mean, that's such an interesting encounter. And if you look at it on the map, there are multiple sightings in that area between Brinkley and the Forest City. I mean, especially around. I never even looked at that, and I went from Palestine. Yeah, I never I had. I wish I had, I should have. I never even thought about looking at the map there. I always look around where I live. I never even thought about looking at it. I mean, it's it's lit up pretty good in that area, so I mean, yeah, definitely, definitely check it out. But did you get a good look at the face of the creature at all? No, he was running, he I mean it ran a straight line. Wasn't noose zig zagging, wasn't no nothing around a straight line one fence to the other. And like I said, I didn't see him some over the fence on my side, but I seen him at by the edge of the fence. So he had to jump over that fence if he jumped over the other, and he jumped over this one. But all I saw was the side of view. And I'm gonna be honest here, I've seen the gilly suit, a real one, and this thing that they're very long and stringing, and this was not like that. This thing was covered in hair, and it was I would say, probably no longer than four inches in its longest point. And you say it did look like it didn't have a neck, but it was so muscular and I could see I could see the muscles, just like the Patty film. I could see. I mean,

50:18 it was in my headlights by the time, by the time he got in front of the truck next to us, within the headlight view, he was in our headlights. And he jumped over that media and was past them of the two lanes and across and over the fence on the other side. He was gone. I mean, he was moving. I couldn't tell you what speed, but we were doing. My truck wouldn't go any faster than seventy four miles an hour, and I was and we were going downhill, so I was probably going faster than that. So it made no work at all of jumping those fences, crossing those four lanes, and jumping the other fence. It didn't take any time at all. And I just wish I had had dash cam. I don't even know if they had dash can at the time, but I tell you what, I have dash can now, and because I'm I'm not going to miss out on on something that comes in front of me.

51:10 Did you notice anything about the arms at all? Uh? The arms were in like a bent running move like like like you and I would run, you know, bent, And but they were moving back and forth, right and left. They weren't. They weren't hanging down. I couldn't. I'm not gonna say they were hanging down below with knees right, that crap, because they were. I couldn't. It was running so uh, but they were. They were huge, for sure. And they were they were very huge. And I did see I did see his hands. I never ever really thought about seeing his feet or looking at his feet, because I was so I was so dang flabbergasted at what we saw, you know, I mean, I dropped him.

51:54 I was. I was. My truck was automatics. I didn't have to worry about jamming any gears or anything. So I had to one hand on the stairingwheel and my left hand on the stairing wheel, right hand on on the mic that was hanging down from the spring and chip chatting with this guy. And all of a sudden I saw it first and I dropped the mic. Of course, the spring caught it, and I was looking and and the guy told me he saw me drop the mic, and he thought he thought maybe I saw a deer right now, and he started breaking and then looked straight ahead and then he saw it. And by the time he saw it, it was in front of him and jumping over the median and then watched it, you know, across the other side, through the through the grass. But we didn't we never uh uh. He was over the other fence before we passed the location, so we had a hell of a good look at him in the in the full moon it was I guess it might have been a three quarter moon, but it was bright out there because uh, there was there was, like I said, no ambient light from any towns that all. There's nothing just out there.

53:03 Did you notice any particular color that would show up like that. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, Rusty Cinnamony Brown what I saw? Uh. And I got a better look in his headlights than I did mine because I was so decdom surprised. I wasn't taking account of what I was seeing, uh, you know, mentally breaking down what I was seeing until his headlights hit it and I was like, oh my god, that's what dad comes sasquashed. And then I saw I'm gonna say, Cinnamony brown, and I would say full grown seven and a half eight foot by the way that he, I mean no effort at all jumping over that median.

53:55 And then no, he this thing grabbed the top rail of this thing with its left arm and threw itself over the fence with his entire body over the fence with its left arm, with just the power of his left arm. And I guess he jumped at the same time. But I don't know too many, too many people that can do that, even in my most most athletic abilities, and I was. I played football. Uh I played tennis. I was a cave and rescue person up until I was in my late twenties. I played adult league football. I ran when I was in school, junior high and high school. I ran cross country tracks at East Lake Elementary and Udawah High School. So uh, I was fairly athletic and and and I was a student of kung fu how Lo kung fu pretty athletic, and it had ability of agility, but never anything like that.

54:57 Did you get the feeling that it was chasing some something or running away from something, or maybe a mixture or something in between. I just kind of felt like he was trying to get across the road, and he had had somewhere to go, and looking at that area where we were and looking at my notes, there was I can't don't remember if the next day exit was Palestine or if we had just passed Palestine. And but looking at my notes, there are a series of ponds or lakes on the left side if I'm going if I'm going east on forty, there was a series of ponds and lakes on the left side past the woods over there. I figured he was probably going to one of those lakes for water or for food or something. Was my was my thoughts at the time.

55:53 I mean, if you look at the map, that area lines up exactly where I mean, these other sightings were seen over the years, almost like they're like following the forest quarter up. And over the way that butts up against if you go I'm assuming the private land between the right of way, then if you if you go further, if you go further northwest, looking at Google Earth, you'll see there's there's wildlife management that butts upright against it, many many acres.

56:34 And I'm telling you, I'm the notes I'm reading from that that I was looking at while I was telling you my story. These are notes that I made. I'm looking at it right now. I made these notes on the nineteenth day of August twenty fifteen, and I went to Google Earth then, and then I went to Google Earth today, and I had screenshots of Google Earth then and Google today, and they're they're a heck of a lot better today they were then. But there are a series of huge lakes, huge lakess and on the left side of where he was headed. So that's where I think he was going. He was going for water, because I don't remember seeing I seem like I remember seeing a couple of creeks on the right side of the road, but not a series of ponds or at least large enough, at least as large as those were on the other side of the interstate.

57:31 Yeah, I'm looking up if you go further north from there, there is a Pine Tree Wildlife Management area up there. I'm looking up on X, which is not a sponsor, but if you guys are listening, you know you can reach out at any time. Yeah. On X is a great tool tease too, if you have it. But yeah, there's definitely stuff for them to go to. In that area. So man, I like that one. That was a good one, dude, that's a great account. I'm still I'm still looking. I plan on going this summer back to the Crawford Pigeon Mountain. The funny thing about it is is you could name a mountain whatever you want, but Pigeon Mountain is part of It's a leg that comes off of a lookout mountain, and lookout mountain is like two thousand or something feet above sea level.

58:29 Of course, we're that's the very edge of the Cumberland Plateau where I live. So I think it's only like eleven hundred feet from the base of the mountain to the top. And I'm I'm also a metal metal detector enthusiasts, and myself and my kids were metal detecting up up on the mountain at one time, and I had to go to the bathroom and believe myself, and I was with two of my daughters. So I stepped off way away and I found the little little wet weather stream which was dry at the time, and I began to you know, the pp and uh, all of a sudden, I see something shiny. And I'm also a Indian arawhead collector and I've got thousands of arrowheads. And what I thought was flint, that by my pea was was boring away at the soil was flint. So when I when I get done, we're leaving myself, I take my water bottle and the rent rent this thing off and it's a Masta Don tooth, and I've got a picture of it, and it's it's it's bigger than the palm of my hand.

59:38 And I got a great big hand, so that that part of the world was underwater at one time, and there were Masta Dons that lived there, so for there to be a tooth there. And I found all kinds of sea urchins and fossils and stuff up up in the area. But it's a great area, and we've done a lot of a lot of exploring. And I can't hike like I used to could because of my right foot doesn't have my achilles tendon. Got your achilles tendon is attached to your heels, and mine broke loose and they actually fused it to the back of my ankle, so my pivot point is off, so I can't I can't walk around on uneven topography very well without a walking stick or at all depending upon the elevation, so I'm limited to what I can do. But we're still looking around and listening and seeing things and hearing stuff.

1:00:36 We have all kinds of stuff happening around our house, and where we live is wooded and uh sparsely populated, so I'm still looking. It sounds like the area you're in, without a doubt, there's some some definite big foot activity there. Have you ever talked to like you, you're, anyone else in the area about if they've had experiperiances as well or. Well. I talked to my uncle, my mother's youngest brother, and he had he's he's the guy that got me in on ar Awhead hontings and taught me how to do it, and he's had experiences. He's never saw anything, but he had been paste in the woods by something, and whatever it was was very, very large, and he never he said he knew it wasn't a bear, and the bear we have around here they're not I mean, a bear around here will can kill you, but for the most part you don't have interactions with him like that around here. But he knew it wasn't a bear, and he knew it wasn't the person because he had shouted out. And most of us around here carry firearms with us because of there's dangerous in the woods. So there's people that live out there that's not supposed to be.

1:01:53 There's fugitives, we'll live out there. There's people that have pot grows and stuff like that, and you just have to have you need to have a firearm. And we never went into the woods without a firearm. Even when I was a kid, we had high powered pellet rifles and knives that our parents made sure we kept with us. And when I was walking through the woods, even on the outskirts of Chattanooga, up in the woods Woodland area, I had a pump pellet rifle that was as strong as a twenty two that was loaded and pumped and cocked, and I had a big knife on my hips and so just for protection, and all of us did so it's not a it's not a strange thing for us to do that. But anyway, he said he he knew that he was being paid by something, and he told me that he he is. He's kind of fell short of saying it was a sashquatch, but he said, I don't think it was a person, but whatever it was was walking on two feet. You know that that's as far as he would go. But I've had numerous friends that once I open up to them about things that I've seen, because I'm not ashamed. I'll just tell you I'm not ashamed at all. I don't think I don't think a person should be ashamed or embarrassed to tell something that they saw or heard that there could be explanations, but there's sometimes there's not explanations. So tell what you see in here and be stand up for yourself and say, you know what, I'm not crazy. You know, the government,

1:03:26 the TV, the news, everybody wants to try to make you look like you're ignorant or uneducated or whatever. But if you see what you see and you hear what you hear and stand up for it, I love that. Oh man, that's that's one of the best ways I've heard that said so far. Mark that that is amazing. You know, Uh, how do you feel about maybe sticking around a little bit longer. I know in the past we talked about this soft off show, but you've seen some other weird stuff. You've had a you grew up in a house that had some issues going on maybe even haunted, and how do you feel about maybe sticking around chatting about that for the members show a little bit.

1:04:13 Hi, I'm good. I don't I don't have to report back for till one pm tomorrow, so I'm good, all right. Just wanted to take a minute to say thank you for listening to this episode of The Big for Society podcast. Mark's encounters aren't just chilling, They're the kind that make you rethink what's possible in the dark corners of our world. It's a huge thanks to Mark for sharing these memories from Harrison Bay, Raccoon Mountain and that unforgettable night on I forty, and for standing by his experiences no matter what anyone else thinks. If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe to us on YouTube, hit the bell icons who don't miss new episodes, and share this one with a friend who's in the Bigfoot, the South or a good old fashioned mystery. And if you're listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, make sure you're following the show there.

1:04:54 And if you'd be willing to leave us a five star positive review, it really helps more people find us now. If you or someone you know has had a bigfoot encounter, especially in Tennessee, Georgia, or anywhere in the world for that matter. I'd love to hear from you, so please send me an email at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com and let's talk. If you're wanting to get a little bit more from the Bigfoot Society, you can find that over at www dot Bigfoot Society podcast dot com. Click on the members login area. Supporting members are able to get ad free early release episodes and members only episodes once a week. It's also a place where you can hang out with people that are into bigfoot as much as you are. So thanks again for following along with the Bigfoot Society until next time, keep your eyes open, trust your gut, and never stop asking what else might be out there? And see you in the woods.